Last straw. Kaja Kallas Ursula von der Leyen You lot and EPP are going at the next election. If I have to stand myself in the European election to get you out and replace you with a proper centre-left commission respecting European values like in the 1980s under Delors, I will do so.

⁦Simon Harris TD⁩ Please can you arrange for someone, anyone, other than ⁦Kaja Kallas⁩ to represent Ireland in these talks. I do not want this individual to have any hand, act or part in representing our country after her disgraceful remarks about us today.

Breakfast on Deutsche Reichsbahn Mitropa Wagen last Saturday on the Berlin to Wernigerode express. In a real dining car! We had a Hello Lenin moment when an older woman boarded with her cases, and had to be let off outside Dessau, with assurances that Krenz was not Chancellor.

BBC drops Gaza medics documentary over impartiality concerns | BBC | The Guardian. ⁦RTÉ News⁩ Why not show this on RTÉ? Get the rights. theguardian.com/world/2025/jun…

I had been in Bonn in 1991 and Weimar was sleepy valley by comparison. Reminded me of the quieter part of Potsdam off to the left as you walk to Sans Souci, but as it was in 1992 except sans Trabants. Villas reminiscent of Heringsdorf as I walked into town.

Bauhaus was my first interest here, having been an R&D director in the lighting industry. I was astounded at how rudimentary the Bauhaus furniture was, but then remembered that this was the pre-1938, pre-Bakelite, pre-polymer era.

The Bauhaus Manifesto was of particular interest. I like the German programme approach to life. David Hilbert did the same thing in Maths in 1900. It was De Valera’s grandson Éamon Ó Cuív who pointed out to me years ago how rare are original, seminal documents with new thinking.

The Culture war aspect of Bauhaus and anti-intellectual fascism was palpable as I walked the museum and thought afterwards in a café. In 2024, it is regrettably easy to imagine the völkisch, Orbánesque, MAGA reaction to these alternative, free spirited creatives in Bauhaus.

And yes, I went also to the museum in the square, with the political history. Fascinating, especially the role of Zentrum and how it failed to shout stop in time, though Von Papen eventually tried in June 1934 but failed as Hindenburg was too far gone to act.

I did wonder about when exactly was the end of Weimar and the start of the Third Reich in Berlin. Jan 30 1933, or the Reichstag fire, or Hindenburg’s death? Or maybe earlier, the event horizon of a political black hole? A lesson for our times.

I went down to look at Goethe’s House. I had to. I have some interactions professionally with the Goethe-Institut Irland (we physicists are not all nerds). Cultured out of it by 2 pm, I had lunch and cleared off to a pool to chill out for the afternoon. So that was Weimar.

Cost of united Ireland would be just ‘€3bn in first year’ and disappear within a decade irishnews.com/news/politics/…

Question. ⁦⁦RTÉ News⁩ ⁦The Irish Times⁩ ⁦Irish Independent⁩ Why are you not prominently reporting this news? It is missing from your websites. You prominently reported other non peer reviewed statements claiming high costs. Balance please! thejournal.ie/united-ireland…

I checked the updated TheJournal.ie story l. I couldn’t believe that Micheál Martin would go so far. But he did say this, and used the word rubbish, which he did not use about the now discredited IIEA report. Shocked that he would dismiss a peer reviewed paper in this way.

Irish unification would cost €152m annually to give Northern Irish civil servants pay parity, report says – The Irish Times. Ye finally woke up and spent the entire day trying to put a negative vibe on reunification. ⁦The Irish Times⁩ #needanewpaper irishtimes.com/politics/2025/…

United Ireland would cost €3bn in first year, report says. ⁦RTÉ News⁩ This report is showing a filing time of 1800 hrs but I was checking regularly thus evening and have only been able to see it on your landing page in this most recent check. rte.ie/news/politics/…

In fact, it still isn’t on your landing page but is buried under politics. This story was out since morning on TheJournal.ie so why not on RTÉ News until now? Afraid too many people would read it all day? Put it on the front page in the morning like you would if it were bad news

The radical 1960s schools experiment that created a whole new alphabet – and left thousands of children unable to spell | Education | The Guardian. This is extraordinary. I am Irish so I was never exposed to this system of early reading, but I can read it. theguardian.com/education/2025…

Across Europe, the financial sector has pushed up house prices. It’s a political timebomb | Tim White | The Guardian. Required reading for all Irish politicians. ⁦Eoin Ó Broin⁩ and ⁦Rory Hearne⁩ have the right ideas. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Ted Cruz ensured Trump spending bill slashed weather forecasting funding | Texas floods 2025 | The Guardian. The wxmaps.org climate and weather website maps have been unobtainable since May 29th 2025. I have used these for 30 years. theguardian.com/us-news/2025/j…